Przemyśl Suspends Partnership With Lviv Over 'Year of the UPA'

Councillors in the Polish city of Przemyśl on Monday agreed to suspend cooperation with Lviv over the Lviv regional council's recent decision to declare 2027 the year of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and Roman Shukhevych, Przemyśl mayor Wojciech Bakun said on Facebook, according to European Pravda.

Twenty-one councillors voted for the resolution; no one voted against or abstained. Citing PAP, the report says the councillors concluded that the 20 October decision of the Lviv regional council offends the memory of Polish victims of crimes committed by the UPA and runs counter to building relations based on historical truth and mutual respect.

What the resolution requires

The resolution obliges Bakun to take legal steps aimed at terminating the 1995 cooperation agreement. It also provides that cooperation will resume if the Lviv regional council finally cancels or officially withdraws its resolution and the Lviv authorities unambiguously distance themselves from initiatives that "glorify structures responsible for crimes against the civilian population". The mayor must inform the Lviv authorities of this position and report to the council on the steps taken and the date the agreement ends.

"After a lengthy discussion, all councillors unanimously decided that until the Lviv authorities clearly define their stance on promoting ideologies directed against Poland and Poles, we are suspending any joint action," Bakun wrote. He thanked the councillors for showing that "we will not remain indifferent to provocative and anti-Polish actions".

A widening dispute

On 20 October the Lviv regional council voted to declare 2027 the "year of Roman Shukhevych, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Oleh Olzhych", which drew immediate criticism from Polish officials; we covered it in Lviv Council's 'Shukhevych Year' Vote Sparks New Poland Row. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk later said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had signalled he would not back further steps by the Lviv council, as reported in Tusk: Zelensky Signaled He Won't Back Lviv's "Year of the UPA" Bid. The Wrocław city council unanimously condemned the decision, and the new mayor of Kraków, Łukasz Gibała, proposes suspending his city's partnership with Lviv.